7/7 Morning Communiqué

Make Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks part of a nutritious breakfast at American Idle.

THESE DAYS

Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri al-Yawm is reporting that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, reported successor to of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as head of al Qaeda in Iraq, has been spotted in an Egyptian prison.

Great Lakes water levels declined in 1998 and have remained low, forcing ships to take on lighter loads and sparking concern about shorelines and wetlands in the world's largest supply of fresh water and a major commercial shipping route for Canada and the United States. [via Undernews]

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported its smallest same-store sales gain in more than a year as shoppers cut back because of higher fuel prices.

"I am hard-pressed to think of any other moment in modern times where there have been so many challenges facing this country simultaneously. The danger is that Mr. Bush will hand over a White House to a successor that will face a far messier world, with far fewer resources left to cope with it."

-- Richard N. Haass, a former senior Bush administration official who heads the Council on Foreign Relations, in yesterday's Washington Post